Abstract
Glucosamine, a naturally occurring amino monosaccharide, is present in the connective and cartilage tissues as a component of glycosaminoglycans, and contributes to maintaining the strength, flexibility, and elasticity of these tissues. Thus, glucosamine has been widely used to treat osteoarthritis (OA) in humans for more than two decades. In fact, several short- and long-term clinical trials on OA have shown the significant symptom-modifying effect of glucosamine. Recently, we have revealed that glucosamine exhibits anti-inflammatory and chondroprotective actions on OA, on the basis of the findings that glucosamine suppresses synovitis and type II collagen degradation, whereas it enhances type II collagen synthesis in articular cartilage, as evidenced by using several biomarkers including hyaluronic acid, CTX-II, C2C, and CPII.
